Woot, woot! All hands on deck! This is not a drill, I repeat this is a real evacuation, this is not a drill. It’s go time, this is what we’ve trained for! Everyone races to the car and we drive to the next neighborhood over. Windows down so we can hear the clickity clacking or horn blasting. Everyone is looking out the window with hopeful eyes. And there she is, the five o clock diesel train hauling empty coal cars back to the quarry. The smiling faces and excited chatter make the trip worth it.

It sounds crazy to some people to get so excited about a simple factory train passing through town. That’s the norm in our house and it’s something I know I’m going to look back on and miss.